Entering the Chiefs' 17-16 win over the Texans on Sunday, it seemed reasonable to think Houston's second-year quarterback would be in for a long day.
Not only would Case Keenum, a man who went undrafted in 2012 due to his perceived lack of arm strength and mobility, be making his first career start on the road, he would be doing it at a rejuvenated Arrowhead Stadium, against the NFL's most ferocious pass rush.

But by the end of the day, even though the Texans lost, let's just say Keenum had made it clear he wasn't the overwhelmed, wide-eyed kid they expected him to be.

“The guy can definitely move around back there, buy some time for his receivers to get open and he has the arm strength to make the big play down the field,” said Chiefs cornerback Sean Smith. “I found that out the hard way.”
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Safety Quintin Demps, who played with Keenum last season in Houston, wasn't necessarily surprised by Keenum's strong day. Keenum, 25, was a scout team quarterback last season as he learned Houston's offense under coach Gary Kubiak, whom Demps regards as one of the league's best quarterback gurus.

Demps remembers seeing Keenum make enough plays against the first-string defense to think he should have been drafted.

“I told y'all Keenum can play,” Demps said. “He's gonna be good ... he's got good composure. He's like a fourth-year guy as a rookie. That's very rare.”

At the end of the day, the combination of the Chiefs' ferocious defense and Arrowhead Stadium won out, as Keenum ended up leading his team to only one first down (while taking four sacks) in the crucial fourth quarter.

But in the process, Keenum still won the respect of the Chiefs, at least three of whom mentioned his “promising future” when discussing his day afterward.

“He definitely came in and played better than I thought he would,” Smith said. “He showed a lot of poise and confidence back there.”

The fact that there was a chance he could have been on the PS, how do you bring Kubiak back next year? Icing on the cake for the countless dumb stuff Kubiak has done. The bane of my enjoyment for the Texans.

The fact that there was a chance he could have been on the PS, how do you bring Kubiak back next year? Icing on the cake for the countless dumb stuff Kubiak has done. The bane of my enjoyment for the Texans.

31 other teams didn't draft Keenum just like 31 other teams didn't draft Arian Foster, but Kubiak managed to get them both signed and on his PS, brought them along/developed them, and eventually got them both on the field and playing in this league.

i mean...unless they don't like you personally for whatever reason, no other player is gonna say anything bad about another player...it's comical people keep bringing in these player quotes like they mean something.

I stand by my statement. They gave Schaub a more than fair contract when you can get equal or better play from your third stringer.

This organization does not make good decisions and I'm sure I don't have to explain.

I'm thinking that Keenum just started coming into his own this year (not during his rookie year in 2012), which meant Schaub had already been resigned to his new contract. Am I right about that ?
Now resigning Schaub in 2012, to me that's a different issue and something that we might both second-guess a lot especially after Matt's performances in recent games.

I was went into Sunday's game relatively indifferent. Keenam impressed me and it LOOKED like he impressed the Chiefs. After the two minute warning they could shoved the ball down our throats and put more points on the board, but instead they elected to run out the clock and beat a team by a point whom they were predicted to obliterate. My hat is off to both young Mr. Keenam for facing a hell of a football team and not blinking and to Coach Andy Reed for being a class act. :tiphat:

I was went into Sunday's game relatively indifferent. Keenam impressed me and it LOOKED like he impressed the Chiefs. After the two minute warning they could shoved the ball down our throats and put more points on the board, but instead they elected to run out the clock and beat a team by a point whom they were predicted to obliterate. My hat is off to both young Mr. Keenam for facing a hell of a football team and not blinking and to Coach Andy Reed for being a class act. :tiphat:

I agree that Andy Reid isn't the type to run up the score, but they also had an obvious strategic reason not to score again. If they did, we would get the ball back down only 8.

I was went into Sunday's game relatively indifferent. Keenam impressed me and it LOOKED like he impressed the Chiefs. After the two minute warning they could shoved the ball down our throats and put more points on the board, but instead they elected to run out the clock and beat a team by a point whom they were predicted to obliterate. My hat is off to both young Mr. Keenam for facing a hell of a football team and not blinking and to Coach Andy Reed for being a class act. :tiphat:

Yes, he is and always has been. In addition to being a very good HC. If only we were lucky enough to get a coach as good as Reid

I don't want to start hearing this isht, again. It's what good teams say about bad teams. :hankpalm:

This is a different circumstance. The Chiefs players gave Keenum no respect (Basically just loading up against the run and daring him to beat him) and he was making them pay for it. Once our running game fizzled out due to injuries it was really clear that the O-line couldn't handle their monster pass rush and that was all she really wrote.

I think if you continue to see losses and this kind of stuff comes out then yeah you can go back to hankhill mode.

i mean...unless they don't like you personally for whatever reason, no other player is gonna say anything bad about another player...it's comical people keep bringing in these player quotes like they mean something.

What's comical is people that keep writing them off like they don't mean anything and for what reason? I know people in KC, they want to trade Alex Smith for Keenum. What people are saying isn't just lip service, they mean something.

31 other teams didn't draft Keenum just like 31 other teams didn't draft Arian Foster, but Kubiak managed to get them both signed and on his PS, brought them along/developed them, and eventually got them both on the field and playing in this league.

When it comes to decision making as to whom should start as who is the best option like Arian Foster Case Keenum should have been starting if not week one definitely after the Seattle game. Kubiak is wasting another year by making dumb decisions.

When it comes to decision making as to whom should start as who is the best option like Arian Foster Case Keenum should have been starting if not week one definitely after the Seattle game. Kubiak is wasting another year by making dumb decisions.

What's comical is people that keep writing them off like they don't mean anything and for what reason? I know people in KC, they want to trade Alex Smith for Keenum. What people are saying isn't just lip service.

What do you think they were going to say though? "oh, he made a few plays against us, but he's not that good & we proved it.." Even if he sucked, they still wouldn't have said that.

I mean c'mon, they're just being professionals...I just don't put alot of stock into quotes from active players of the opposing team....

These are the same guys who'll talk smack trying to get into a players' head before a game & then completely 180 after the game if that particular player has a good game against them....you gotta take those quotes with a grain of salt.

What do you think they were going to say though? "oh, he made a few plays against us, but he's not that good & we proved it.." Even if he sucked, they still wouldn't have said that.

I mean c'mon, they're just being professionals...I just don't put alot of stock into quotes from active players of the opposing team....

These are the same guys who'll talk smack trying to get into a players' head before a game & then completely 180 after the game if that particular player has a good game against them....you gotta take those quotes with a grain of salt.

:toropalm: If you were just going to say something nice to say something nice, because you don't dislike a guy.. you'd simply say "yes, he played well". You wouldn't go into detail raving about his play or talked about how he looked like a 4 year vet as a rook or talked about how rare that is, so yes, the comments are telling and they mean something.

Players will generally avoid being too negative about opposing players. At the same time it's rare that they will go too far in the other direction. Some of this is just general politeness while a few of the comments do border on being genuinely positive/impressed. People who like Keenum will see it all as affirmation of their beliefs. People who aren't sold on him will discount it and try to claim it is all meaningless. Nothing new here.

:toropalm: If you were just going to say something nice to say something nice, because you don't dislike a guy.. you'd simply say "yes, he played well". You wouldn't go into detail raving about his play or talked about how he looked like a 4 year vet as a rook or talked about how rare that is, so yes, the comments are telling and they mean something.

Lol, you know damn well the media wasn't letting them get away with a simple ass response like that...Especially since i'm sure they had to field multiple questions about him...

& most of the time in those situations, players aren't going to **** on a player they just played, even he did suck.... unless they don't like him....It's usually players that aren't playing anymore (Derrick Ward) or players from other teams who come with the negative stuff.

I liken it to when Schaub got injured and a few cheered a few weeks back..... that's all you heard & seen the players talking about & it made them look like they were whinning......but it was really all the media asked them about & made it seem bigger & more negative than it actually was....I'm sure there was a little bit of that going on here as well.

Nevertheless, there are 52 guys on the other team...it's not that hard to find someone to say something good or bad about a situation.....if you're really trying to look anyway.

Players will generally avoid being too negative about opposing players. At the same time it's rare that they will go too far in the other direction. Some of this is just general politeness while a few of the comments do border on being genuinely positive/impressed. People who like Keenum will see it all as affirmation of their beliefs. People who aren't sold on him will discount it and try to claim it is all meaningless. Nothing new here.

I've followed this game too long to not recognize "coach speak/player speak/lip service" when I see it.. This isn't it. General politeness is not saying "I told you he would be good and he looked like a 4 year vet". There's backups that have to make starts in this league all the time.. how often does a opposing team say those type of remarks in a attempt to just be polite?